By Luca Gross / Press-Republican
Trinity Park welcomed the community Saturday afternoon for the ninth annual Pride Fest hosted by the Adirondack North Country Gender Alliance with live music, games, food, a drag show and more.
According to Kelly Metzgar, co-founder and executive director at the Adirondack North Country Gender Alliance, this event closes out the Pride season just in time to kick off Pride History Month, and National Coming Out Day which takes place Oct. 11.
While the parade did not return this year, the community did along with local organizations and agencies collaborated to offer a variety of information, resources games and prizes.
The celebration offered both the SUNY Plattsburgh campus community and greater Plattsburgh community a way to come together.
GROWN OVER THE YEARS
According to Metzgar, the event is held in October, not June, unlike other Pride celebrations to accommodate when the SUNY Plattsburgh students are back in the city.
“We have always done it a week before Indigenous Peoples Day, because that is when all the SUNY students head home,” she said.
For nine years, Adirondack North Country Pride has been held in Trinity Park.
“This event has really grown over the years,” Metzgar said.
Starting in 2015, the event had only 12 to 13 vendors and community organizations in total, no tents and less entertainment.
“I was just reminiscing how, about nine years ago, when I had just come back from gender surgery and I bumped into (a fellow organizer) and I said ‘It’d be fun to put something together for us here,’ just as like an idea,” Metzgar said. “And we only had six weeks, but he did it.”
Over the course of the better part of a decade, the event has grown to reach the capacity of the park.
“We cannot fit one more tent, or add any more groups.” Metzgar said.
NO PARADE THIS YEAR
In previous years, the event included a Pride parade along City Hall Place, but due to the cost of Plattsburgh Police Department and City of Plattsburgh Department of Public Works services, a parade could not be held this year.
“The only thing I am disappointed by this year is no parade,” Metzgar said. “The city requires police and DPW by contract and they have a four hour minimum, it comes out to about $4,200. For two years, we paid for it ourselves, and that’s over $8,000, we just can’t afford it, but I would say it has been very successful without the parade.”
Throughout the event, pride attendees enjoyed live music, food, games and activities such as balloon animals and face painting.
According to Metzgar, Pride is the perfect opportunity for the community to come together in celebration and support of love and one another.
A diverse group of local organizations and agencies at the event offered the support, information and resources available to the community through a variety of programs.
TRANS DAY OF REMEMBRANCE
The Adirondack North Country Gender Alliance is planning a commemorative event in honor of Trans Day of Remembrance, also known as TDOR, observed on Nov. 20.
“Trans Day of Remembrance is a solemn day in the community,” Metzgar said. “TDOR commemorates those who have been viciously and brutally murdered, just for being themselves. It is heartbreaking, but their stories need to be heard and their names need to be remembered.”
There has been no date announced, but an in-person event will be held at the SUNY Plattsburgh Campus, and virtually streamed to New York City.
For more information visit https://adkncga.org/, or the NCGA Facebook at ADKNCGA.
